The different layers in reporting framework to connect to the SAP HANA database

What are the different layers in reporting framework to connect to the SAP HANA database?

​The layers in the reporting framework to connect to the SAP HANA database are:

  • ​Interaction languages
  • Connecting drivers
  • Reporting tools

Interaction languages

  1. SQL

It is standard database language used for all the platforms to gain access of data from the database platform.

In SAP HANA, all the reporting tools use ODBC or JDBC drivers to connect with SAP HANA using SQL in the form of interaction language for sending the queries.

  1. MDX

MDX is the language that reporting tools use for accessing data in the database environment from multi-dimension objects.

In SAP HANA, MS Office uses MDX language for accessing data from the SAP HANA database.

  1. SQLDBC

SQLDBC is the interaction language that reporting tools use at the time of connection to the database platform through BICS connection.

Connecting drivers

The drivers used for establishing the connection with the SAP HANA database platform. They transfer the language queries to the database from reporting tools.

The drivers used by SAP HANA are:

  1. ODBC

ODBC is Open DataBase Connectivity. It is mainly for relational reporting to interact with SAP HANA database using SQL language.

  1. JDBC

JDBC is Java DataBase Connectivity. It is primarily for relational reporting through the Java community that uses SQL language for sending queries to the SAP HANA database.

  1. ODBC

ODBC is Open DataBase Connectivity. It is also used for relational reporting to interact with SAP HANA database by using SQL language.

  1. BICS

BICS is BI Consumer Services. It is a proprietary driver of SAP that gives benefits of OLAP access in MDX for multi-dimensional reporting.

Reporting Tools

The layer of reporting tools is at the top of the reporting framework.

The different reporting tools in SAP BusinessObjects Bi Reporting platform are Crystal Reports, MS Excel, Web Intelligence (WebI), SAP BO Dashboards and SAP Lumira.

These were the three major layers in the reporting framework to connect to the SAP HANA database.